


Let me love you

by ManiLea



Category: DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Action & Romance, Canon Divergence, F/M, Femdom, Light BDSM, Trinity vs Trinity, various Titans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-02 12:46:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15796827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManiLea/pseuds/ManiLea
Summary: Alternative ending to RHATO 2016: the outlaws break into the Batcave to retrieve the only thing that may let Bizarro retain his intelligence. And just as Jason gives up on Artemis, she makes a move on him. The consequences of that night are set to tear them apart.





	1. let

**Author's Note:**

> **Comics:** Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016) vols. 1–3  
> 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Music:** What Lovers Do – Maroon 5

“How was your date last night?”

If Jason was honest, he’d been wishing he had used the time to research red kryptonite or raid a Wayne warehouse for supplies. They were always running out of toilet paper and toothpaste. He blamed Artemis for the toilet paper, because she was a woman, and Bizarro for the toothpaste, because he’d caught him using it to clean his toenails.

So he said what was true and maintained the reputation he was after. “She was hot.”

Jason threw a grappling line to a thick stalactite and pulled himself up, sending bats flying in all directions. Artemis leapt through the gap above the wall of the Batcave like a deer and was already in front of a plain steel door with Bizarro before he could jump down to join them. 

“Hot,” Artemis repeated. “That’s very descriptive.”

More accurately, she’d been small and blonde with a nice smile, but that seemed rather less worth saying with a voluptuous Amazon warrior standing in front of him.

“While not meaning to distract you from your chit-chat, I must remind you that this next stage will require your full attendance.”

 _Attention_. It would have been an inconsequential slip of the tongue for most people, but the Bizarro from two days ago would never have been so imprecise. He was starting to relapse.

There were no handles or locks on the door, just a tiny number pad on the left-hand side. Jason had been entrusted with the password when he was still Robin but not with the location of the stronghold. It was to do with Alfred’s policy on separating sensitive information.

Bizarro had found the location by building his own ground-penetrating 3D metal detector.

“If I know Batman, the system records every time the password’s used and he’ll know it was me. Do you think you could re-make the door, Bizarro? Then it doesn’t matter if one of you forces it.”

“I certainly can, Jason, on the condition that our endeav– our ending –”

“I’ll do it,” Artemis broke in. “I’m no one’s lackey.”

Either way, Batman would find out, Jason supposed. He always did.

Artemis placed her fingertips on each side of the paper-thin opening that ran down the middle of the door. With a single wrench, flexing every muscle in her arms, it crumpled like tinfoil.

It was more than enough to intimidate most men, but every time she did something like that his dick hardened. He’d had the same reaction to Diana and Donna. It was probably a result of some weird Freudian psychology, a hangover from wishing his mother had been strong enough to look after herself, never mind him.

On the other side was an unlit tunnel. Jason went in after Artemis and followed her closely, trying not to trip or stand on the ends of her long ponytail. It was tempting pick it all up and hold onto it, like a rope, but he would be risking a whack in the face.

Anyway, he’d decided to put an end to anything that could be construed as flirting. She wasn’t interested. But the rejection only became more sore as he’d learnt of the subtle graces of her heart and the ghosts of her past. It was as though they had been born, hurt, killed and reborn in parallel courses and the only thing he could conceive was that their lives would now mould together.

A red glow shone from the end of the tunnel. The mineral lay on a stone pedestal. All they had to do was to pick it up, hand it over to Lex Luthor and save Bizarro’s brain from retreating into a pit of ignorance.

It was a little too easy. Jason grabbed Artemis’ waist. 

“Wait!” He quickly took his hand away. Artemis frowned at him. “I bet it’s a decoy. Or there’s some kind of trap we can’t see.”

“Do you have anything to throw? Not a bullet.”

Jason felt his jacket and pulled a knife from one of the pockets. Artemis reached out to take it from him.

“Hey! I know what I’m doing.”

Artemis snorted. “Is that what you told your date last night?”

Jason reddened but ignored her. The date hadn’t gone anywhere near that far. Artemis moved aside and he threw the knife like a dart. It lodged itself in the red kryptonite without a sound. He’d been right. It was a decoy, made of out a jelly-like substance – the sort that would glue his hands together if he’d picked it up.

“We should be alright. We just have to find the real thing.”

They entered the chamber. Artemis inspected the pedestal and Jason felt the walls to see if any of the bricks would come loose. Bizarro’s eyes were red: he was scanning the room with his laser vision.

“How did you get her to go out with you, anyway?” Artemis asked.

“You know.” 

They’d been at a bar a few nights ago and he’d seen the girl playing pool with some friends. When she’d gone to order a drink, he’d sidled up to her and complimented her on her technique. Artemis hadn’t shown the slightest bit of curiosity then.

“No, I don’t know. What on Mother Earth did you say to her?”

“I said, ‘Great shot. That went right to my heart.’”

Artemis cackled. “You need help.”

Jason smirked in spite of himself. “I was a bit drunk. And it worked.”

He didn’t mind her razor-edged put-downs. They were honest and better than any mundane friendliness. The only thing better was her rare and equally honest vulnerable side.

“There,” said Bizarro, pointing to a slab in the floor.

Jason and Artemis each prised one end of the slab and lifted it out. Jason picked up something hard and heavy, bound in cloth. He peeked under the cloth and there it was – the only known piece of red kryptonite on Earth.

“Beautiful.”

“Going to make a move on it?” asked Artemis. “A lump of red kryptonite by any other name would smell as sweet?”

“Yeah, yeah...”

They replaced the slab and filed out through the tunnel, with Bizarro leading the way.

“You can do better than that. Go on.”

“What?”

“Try a line.”

“On the kryptonite?”

They emerged from the tunnel to find themselves in the small, hidden chamber of the Batcave. Bizarro was still, listening attentively to whatever was in the central chamber.

“I must be part alien because I’m dead just looking at you.”

Artemis laughed. “Cheesy, but not bad.”

“Quiet now, friends,” said Bizarro gently. “It possible we are not alone.”

“Coming from you, I’ll take that as a compliment,” Jason muttered to Artemis.

Bizarro flew to the top of the cave wall and remained there. They waited for him to signal the all-clear.

“Do, Jason.” She spoke very quietly but was standing so close to him that he heard her clearly.

He looked up at her and caught himself in her green eyes. Green like kryptonite. And kryptonite was an apt synonym for weakness.

“Red means stop, green means go,” he murmured, mostly to himself.

She tilted her head and pressed her lips against his. Then she flew up to join Bizarro, who was continuing to watch the main chamber of the cave.

His heart almost stopped. Was it a replay of the bogus date? The _mostly bogus_ date, she had said. 

There was a chance, just a small one, that she wanted something more from him. But he wasn’t going to walk into a mouse-trap again. If anything happened between them, it would have to be on her terms. She would have to come to him – all the way.


	2. me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Music:** Young – The Chainsmokers
> 
>  
> 
> ~~porn in the next chapter, promise~~

The quantum doorway was on a ledge halfway across the central chamber of the Batcave. They could reach it within seconds but would be seen by someone who was looking out from the rooms on the lower level or standing out of sight in one of the crevices in the rock.

Bizarro’s superhuman intelligence might be a match for the Batman, if anything was. Artemis had to trust him. He took off into the chamber just as Jason swung up beside her. Just as she was about to jump down, something – a rocket – collided into Bizarro, smashing him into the wall.

A low, gravelly voice echoed around the chamber: “Give me the kryptonite, Jason.”

“I’ll take him on and get Bizarro,” said Artemis under her breath. “You just get it back to the hideout.”

“Don’t underestimate him,” Jason stressed.

Artemis jumped down and sprinted along the Batmobile strip towards the laboratories. She heard Jason jump down behind her and run at a right angle to her path.

A circular slot opened high up in the wall and Artemis threw herself to the ground as another rocket shot out. She rolled over and picked herself up. 

A man in a black mask and cape was ahead of her, rapidly moving in the direction of the quantum doorway. The area below it, where Jason had been, was filled with light green smoke. As it cleared, it revealed his outline collapsed on the floor.

Artemis took a running leap, planted herself in front of Batman and flung him into the wall.

“YOU POISONED HIM?!”

Within half a second, he was on his feet. The blow to his head should have given him a concussion at the very least. 

_Sekhmet knows what his mask is lined with._

“He’ll recover. I’ll do the same to you if you don’t get out of my way.”

Artemis raised her axe but he stared impassively back at her as if he didn’t believe she would, or could, harm him.

“We need that kryptonite for our friend.”

“Your friend looks alive and well to me.”

“He’s not well.”

“Because he’s becoming stupid?” said Batman sharply. “Yes, I know what’s been going on, and I say all the better. He was already too powerful for his own good and now he is too intelligent for it. He is a botched clone of an alien, has no human memories, no connection to this earth and no interest in its safety.”

“You are wrong. He has us.”

“He has you as long as he needs you. And Lex Luthor will make you promises as long as you bring him extremely rare minerals that he can use to drain Superman’s power.”

“He’s not going to–” Artemis closed her mouth again. 

She didn’t know if she trusted Luthor either, but it was worth the risk for Bizarro. But as far as Batman was concerned, it wasn’t. It was that simple. She swung her axe at Batman and in that fraction of a second he launched himself up the rock face.

He knew she couldn’t fly. But there he was, hanging from a wire out of her reach because she could crush him like a bug.

“If Jason didn’t have an ounce of respect left for you, I would kill you right now,” she said. “I don’t care that the world thinks you’re a legend.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You’ll regret threatening me, child.”

Artemis was ready to throw her axe at his head, and in the last moment she threw it a little higher. It split the rock. It would have missed Batman anyway, but he had already grappled to the next portion of the wall.

“To me, Mistress!”

Her weapon extracted itself, cracking the wall further so that the lines met up and almost made a triangle. Pieces of rock began to crumble, then the triangle loosened as a great chunk right above her. 

It knocked her clean over the handle of her axe, squashing her arm under her torso. Her head was spinning, but she shook off the debris and crawled out.

On the other side of the chamber, Batman was bent over Jason, searching through his pockets.

“Get away from him!”

Artemis charged at him, but it was too late – there was a glint of red in his hand. He threw something with his other hand and again the air exploded with green smoke. Her throat tightened and her eyes began to water. 

She got back on her knees and crawled towards Jason, but Batman was already gone. His voice rang from elsewhere. 

“Jason isn’t the only one I’ve been keeping an eye on, Artemis. All three of you have been on very thin ice.”

He was behind her, she thought, but was too dizzy to really know. She placed Jason’s unconscious body over her shoulder in a fireman’s lift and steadied herself on her feet.

“And the only reason you haven’t been tried for your war crimes in Qurac is because the Justice League has been benevolent enough not to give you up. As of yet.”

It was more than a threat. It was a matter of time. And at the mention of the League, Artemis knew that when the time came, it would be impossible for her to put up a fight.

She stumbled over to Bizarro and pushed the rocket off him. He stirred.

“Am we… is everyone okay?”

“We’re getting out of here.”

They ran up the stone steps and through the quantum doorway. Artemis couldn’t see Batman, but he was there, somewhere. It wasn’t an escape. He was releasing them on bail.

Once they were in the invisible hideout, Artemis laid Jason on the enormous round table in the section of the compound that Bizarro had dubbed the war room. She placed her hand on his chest, feeling his breath release as a stutter. He was beautiful in a way that hadn’t much occurred to her before.

“Red Hood am okay.” Bizarro sunk into a chair, put his chin in his hand and said slowly, “He will be fine. His heart is beating normally.”

“And you?” asked Artemis.

“I will be… as I was.”

“I’m so sorry. We could try again, but–” Artemis glanced at Jason.

“I will not ask any more from you. One reason for not going back to being that – that dumb lump is so I can protect the two of you like you always protected me.”

“Friends don’t keep score.” 

Bizarro nodded heavily. It was the helplessness that he feared most. Artemis felt it in herself and she was torn between wanting to help him and wanting him to go away, so that she might cling on to what was already slipping through her fingers.

“Go to Lex Luthor. Tell him that we could not get the red kryptonite but you still need his help. He values you in some way, and if he was not who he was, I would say it was fondness.”

She was panicking now, and she didn’t quite know why. If that night was to be her last as an outlaw in Gotham, she needed to be alone with Jason.


	3. love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Music:** Locked out of Heaven – Bastille (Bruno Mars cover)

She went into her room to change into a vest top and jeans, and to re-tie her hair. Back in the war room, the table was clear and Artemis was afraid that someone had broken in until she heard Jason fumbling about in his room.

He came out and leant against the wall. “Let me guess – that was a massive failure.”

“Your mentor is the bastard son of a Gorgon.”

He snorted. “Pretty much.”

Her eyes swept over him, looking for signs of breathing difficulty or clamminess, but the gas Batman had used was not nearly as harmful as it had appeared. Not wanting to look too concerned, she busied herself with putting the chairs into place.

When had she become so attached to him? He was a long shot from anyone she had previously been attracted to, being pale, bulky and… male. His cheesy pick-up lines should have put her off if nothing else. 

Yet she was keenly aware of him pulling off his sweat-soaked shirt in the corner of her eye. He’d done it a dozen times before and she’d never had to fight the urge to stare or to go to him. It was the game, she missed, she told herself. It was because he had stopped flirting with her. Like the title of Shim’tar and the Bow of Ra, she wanted what she was told she would never have.

He balled up the shirt, tossed it into his room and went into the bathroom. She could see his reflection in the mirror, washing his face in the sink, beads of water dripping down his bare chest.

“You know, now that the big guy’s gone, we can do whatever we like.”

Artemis waited for a response while he pulled a towel to his face and held it there for a few seconds.

“Yeah?” He emerged, his expression oddly immobile. “Like what?”

“Live on the edge. Throw darts at that ridiculous hologram. Put Pup-Pup in the washing machine.”

He tittered and collapsed onto the metal stairs that led to the control room, legs spread out in front of him and eyes half-closed. “Sure.”

“I haven’t slept with a man before.”

For a second she thought he hadn’t heard her, but then he said carefully, “I mean, did you want to?”

“Do you?”

“Do I – huh?”

She walked towards him until she was only an inch from touching his feet with her own. Her stature blocked the ceiling light, casting a shadow up to his sharp cheekbones.

His voice constricted. “I haven’t slept with… anyone before.”

“Guess I’m in charge then.”

She knelt down and placed her hands on either side of him. He leant forwards to meet her in a soft, chaste kiss. She ran her thumb over his lips, prised them open and slid her tongue in. He shivered and she drew back with a frown.

“Do you want this?”

He straightened, projecting himself to be more confident than she guessed he was. 

“I’m all yours, babe. Whatever you want.”

She pressed the tips of three fingers against his chest, pushing him back against the hard corners of the steps. His heart was thumping fast. 

“Firstly, you don’t call me babe. You don’t say anything through all this, or I’ll slap you. Secondly, this doesn’t mean I’m your girl now.”

Jason slowly nodded.

She was near enough on top of him but moved her knees up so her legs were touching his inner thighs and ran her hands over his bare shoulders and down to his abdomen. His eyes shone into hers, large and fixated. 

She slid one knee forward, pushing it against the bulge at his crotch. He grunted and dug his elbows into the stair behind him, supporting himself against her. Artemis bent to kiss him again. His head tilted, allowing her to push her tongue fully into his mouth and caress his.

Her hand lowered to the bulge between his legs and she kneaded it lightly. He moaned, and she pressed her lips to below his naval, lower and lower, following the trail of long, dark hair to his belt. With a wrench, she pulled apart the belt, ripping the leather. Jason winced. Artemis undid his jeans but without tearing them.

“Take them off.”

He shuffled to the edge and pulled off his jeans and socks, so that he was only in his navy boxers. She pushed him back down, threaded one hand into his hair and teased the tender skin of his neck with her teeth. Jason reached for the back of her head, but she caught his wrist and pinned it to his side.

“You only do what I tell you to do.”

He made a long whine and tugged at the neck of her vest with his free hand, brushing his knuckles over her breast. Artemis pulled it away and pinned it down too.

“Not happening, little one. This is all about you.”

“Just...wanna touch,” he mumbled.

Her palm snapped against his cheek. It flushed red, then back to white.

“What did I say?”

Jason’s eyes flashed and a corner of his mouth turned up. His voice came low and grating. “You said you’d slap me.”

Artemis wrapped her arms around his waist and lifted him up, supporting him under his arse. He flailed a little and hung onto her upper arms. She went into his room and dumped him face forward onto his bed, then raised his torso so he was on all fours. 

His boxers came down, releasing his cock, and she smacked his arse cheeks. He trembled.

She leant over him and murmured in his ear, “Now you’ll be good for me, won’t you?”

Head bowed, Jason nodded.

Artemis took the head of his cock and rubbed her thumb around the tip to spread the pre-cum. She moved her hand up and down, slowly at first, and felt him grow stiffer. She licked the index finger of her other hand, ran it lightly along his butt-crack and teased the hole. 

As she increased the pressure at both ends, his arms buckled under him and he planted his head into the mattress, moaning.

“It’s nice when you do as I say, isn’t it? Maybe you’ll learn to stop being so stubborn.”

She kissed and bit his arse cheeks while keeping her hand moving over his cock. He moaned more urgently. She eased off.

“I’m not ready for you to come yet.”

Artemis stripped off her jeans and underwear, and settled herself on the bed in front of him. Before she could move him, he took hold of the base of her hips and nuzzled at her vulva. She grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked him up, but too aroused to discipline him any more, she kissed him roughly.

He kissed back just as hard, clutching her waist and stomach. The stubble on his chin scraped against her mouth.

She pushed him away and guided his head down. He threaded his tongue between her folds and lapped.

“No rush,” she crooned. “We’ve got the rest of the night.”

He obeyed and slowed. She caressed his hair and shifted to let his tongue glide all the way along her slit. It ran thick with discharge, almost painfully so, and she had to breathe out in sharp pants to retain some composure.

She was supposed to be in control. 

Artemis grabbed his shoulders, flipped him onto his back and climbed over to straddle him. With the base of his cock between her hands, she lowered her mouth over it and sucked, pressing her lips firmly against the head. Jason let out a long moan and kicked on impulse. 

Still holding onto him, she shifted up his body on her knees and traced his cock between her legs to find the opening. His eyes widened.

“I’m on pills.”

She pushed down halfway, then eased in and out, finding the right angle and allowing her body to adjust to him. She took him fully inside her and clenched. Leaning forward and gripping the sheets, she fucked down on him. The tightness seared through her, making both of them pant.

Jason raked a hand through Artemis’ fringe, which was falling in front of her face, and followed it to her cheek. He raised his head and strained forwards to kiss her. Their tongues touched and his teeth scraped against her bottom lip, then with a rush of fluid she sunk deeper onto him and he fell back against the pillow with a heavy stuttering groan.

She kept going, faster and faster. He thrust his hips in time with her and when she squeezed her eyes shut all she knew was him pounding inside of her. She gritted her teeth, trying not to cry out, so he wouldn’t know – she clenched, out of her control, and orgasmed, sending another wave of fluid through her. Taking deep breaths, she eased off and withdrew.

Jason hissed and tugged at his cock. It was still hard. 

“Artemis… Artemis.”

She settled between his legs, took it from him with her forefinger and thumb and idly circled the tip with her tongue. “I could just leave you like this. I am very satisfied.”

“No! Do me…” he whined.

She lifted his arse up and smacked the underside. His head tipped back, forehead creased. She smacked him a second and a third time, eliciting high-pitched yelps, then slid all fingers of her hand into his butt-crack. He thrashed, but with her holding him in that position – back arched and arse in the air – he could do nothing else. 

She took his cock deep into her mouth and sucked while jerking the base upwards with her hand. His hips bucked, hitting the fingers in his crack and making him cry out. He shuddered and thrust upwards faster. Artemis responded with her hand clamped around his shaft and jerked him off until his cum spilled and splattered all over his chest and the sheets. When he was finally limp, she lowered him onto the bed.

Jason rolled onto his side and groaned. 

“My dick hurts,” he mumbled and closed his eyes.

Artemis left Jason to sleep, gathered her clothes and went to shower. She was glad that Bizarro was nowhere in sight and prayed that if he had heard them, he wouldn’t ask any questions. She slept in her own room and woke as the sun was low to the west. It had taken her a while to adapt to the nocturnal life and it still felt unnatural.

A breakfast spread of toast, butter, eggs and coffee was laid out on the war table and Bizarro bid her a morose good evening from his seat.

“No luck?”

“Mr Luthor said… shut me down himself if we bother him.”

Jason emerged from his room wearing only a towel around his waist. He stank of stale sweat. He grabbed a triangle of toast, munched it without butter, and plonked himself at the table. Through his ruffled hair he peered up at Artemis, but she poured out some coffee and paid him no attention.

“The hologram’s gone,” said Jason.

The space above Bizarro’s chair was empty. With all that had happened since their return from the Batcave, Artemis hadn’t noticed.

“Hideout is from my brain.” Bizarro tapped the side of his head. “No brain, no hideout.”

The entire base tilted as if in response and the coffee pot crashed onto the floor.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” said Artemis.

They hastily gathered up the little they had owned before their high-tech life in the sky – clothes and weapons, mostly – and Jason finally showered. Artemis and Jason strapped on their jet packs and got ready to jump from the trapdoor, but Bizarro put a hand on each of their shoulders.

“That won’t work now.”

He picked them up by the backs of their collars and flew down to the street.

“We’ll go to Ma Gunn’s,” said Artemis.

“She’s not at home, but yeah,” Jason replied. 

There was nowhere else they could go. They hurried through the shadows of the street to avoid any snoops that might have seen them descend.

“I heard what you said about us not being a thing,” muttered Jason. “But you could at least look at me.”

Artemis ignored him.

The moonlight flooding across the lawn from behind the school building. The outlaws stopped in their tracks. Two outlines stood at the gate: a Bat and an Amazon.

Artemis had not expected them quite so soon. She had thought she would at least get to see her friends safe and restocked in their old shelter.

“We didn’t take anything from you, did we?” Jason growled. “So, get out of our way.”

Artemis pushed him back with an arm. “What do you want?”

Diana opened the gate and stepped forwards. Her lasso glowed, illuminating her face.

“Artemis of Bana-Mighdall, I am summoning you to the International Criminal Court to answer for the terror attack on the civilian population of K’kyash and use of a potential weapon of mass destruction.”

“What?!” Jason’s hand went to his gun. 

“I will come with you,” Artemis said quickly.

“Don’t listen to them, Ar. You don’t have to do anything they tell you to do.”

He was right, but she had pledged to defend her people – in her heart, even if she was not the Shim’tar. Refusing to speak out on their behalf was cowardly and cowering in front of the Princess of Themyscira was unbearable. Batman had known that when he’d warned her.

“That’s rich coming from you,” she snapped.

“Tell them about Akila. Tell them that she had it all along and that everyone including you thought she was the Shim’tar.”

It wouldn’t make much of a difference. She was in possession of the Bow of Ra and that alone could keep her locked up for years.

“Goodbye, my friends.”

Bizarro’s entire body drooped. “Red Her am back soon?”

“Sorry, Bizarro. I don’t think so.”

In the brief moment that she looked at Jason, she saw anger and desolation in his face. Then she walked away with Diana.


	4. you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Music:** Hello – Lionel Riche

[Three years later]

“Roy’s already talked things over, but you’ll meet them at the party tonight.”

Jason choked on his coffee. He had just arrived at Dick’s apartment in Bludhaven to carry out some work for a friend of the Titans. 

Dick had initially passed it up for himself and the rest of the Titans because it was morally dubious and could taint their reputation, but the contact had persisted, so he’d opted to outsource the mission to Jason, through Roy.

“Party? You said it was a meeting!”

“Yeah, well, the Titans have organised a party to celebrate our three-year anniversary as a team and I decided to merge it with this. Thought it would be a good opportunity for you to re-integrate into the superhero community”

“I can’t be at superhero parties, Dick. Bruce will hear about it.”

“So? You’re not in Gotham now and you’ll be out of there tomorrow, right?”

Jason had stopped speaking to Bruce after he’d taken Artemis from him. Months later he’d killed the Penguin, and Bruce had almost killed him for it. It had come as a bit of a relief that their strained, trustless relationship was gone for good, but Gotham couldn’t be his home any more. 

Jason didn’t have a home. He’d spent the last few years hiding out in various cities – Metropolis, Central City, Rome, Paris – and working undercover for villains and heroes alike. He’d become little more than a mercenary.

“It’ll just be the Titans, the Teen Titans and a bunch of other young people. None of the Justice League, no one really high profile.”

“Fine.”

After the coffee and a couple of protein bars, Jason went into Dick’s bathroom and put on a fresh t-shirt, a dark green one, over his black cargo trousers. He brushed his teeth, sprayed a little cologne and removed the gun from his belt, but left a pistol in his pocket. His mask, jacket, gloves and other weapons went into a bag. 

If half the party didn’t recognise or remember him as the Red Hood, he’d count it as a success.

The two of them turned up at what looked like a long-deserted concrete office tower. In the basement was a surprisingly trendy industrial-style restaurant with a copper-tiled bar and cheerful neon-green lamps and cushions.

“Here’s a stranger!”

Donna Troy came at him and clapped his face in her hands, as if he were some great-nephew that she’d been afraid of forgetting. Roy and Garth were behind her, smiling. Embarrassed, Jason wriggled out of her grasp and scooted onto a bench along the wall. Roy came around with a tray of shots, despite all the protests that it was too early.

The restaurant filled up within ten minutes, but Jason kept his head down. He was counting on Roy to tell him who he needed to speak to, but Roy kept getting up to shove a drink into the hand of each newly arrived guest and somehow ended up in a sombre conversation with Emiko Queen at another table.

Jason’s gaze drifted about the room and settled on a pretty, slender black woman alone at the bar. She was one of the few people he didn’t know. On her wrists were heavy gold bangles that made him think of the Amazons, but she couldn’t be one. Her build was not powerful enough.

But she was worth a shot, that was for sure. The last girl he had hooked up with had been half a year ago. They’d gone on two dates, had some drunken sex and agreed to part ways. She’d been so bland that Jason now struggled to picture her face. Dick probably had a point about sticking with the superhero community.

He slid out from his stool and approached the bar, racking his brain for a good pick-up-line and wondering whether it was safer to go with, ‘Can I buy you a drink?’

Someone moved out from a cluster of people, blocking his view of the woman. It was a towering hourglass torso and a waterfall of red hair. His heart turned over. It was _her_.

Jason was trapped between two tables and could either awkwardly retreat to his spot against the wall before he was seen, or head for the bathroom, which would mean making a complicated loop through the busiest part of the room.

Artemis placed her hand on the back of the woman’s head and guided her lips to her own in a tender, lingering kiss. Jason swallowed and looked away. He was supposed to be making an escape. Someone was frowning at him – Donna, from the next table. He could go and sit next to her and pretend that he hadn’t seen Artemis, except that Donna had probably already noticed him staring at her.

“Jason?”

Artemis’ sharp green eyes were on him.

“Hello.”

What more was there to say to someone he’d been crazy about three years ago? Someone who had given him the night of his life, that he still dreamt about and got off to; who had left him the next day in the cold and the dark, lonely and loveless once more.

He could turn away and carry on remembering to forget. It had all been in his head. She had never claimed to love him. But he took a breath and walked over.

“What are you doing here? I heard you’d abandoned Gotham.” It was abrasive Artemis. Of course it was – they were in a public place.

“Yeah, I did,” he said shortly.

“This is Nayeli.” 

Jason nodded at the woman on the barstool. She definitely looked like Artemis’ type, and if they all happened to be each other’s type, there was the remote possibility of a three–

“You might have heard of me as Aztek,” said Nayeli, reaching over to shake his hand.

The name was familiar – something to do with the JSA? But he’d thought Aztek was a man.

“How’d you get invited to this?” he returned.

“I’m not still an outlaw, Jason. I’m in touch with people.” She inclined her head at Nayeli. “Nightwing invited us.”

“You’ve been talking to Dick? And not me?”

“The sentence was two years. I’ve been out for a year. Guess you didn’t look into it.”

He had read every report on her case, but what was he supposed to have done after years of not seeing her? For all he could have known, she’d chosen to return to the Bana-Mighdall. Besides, he’d barely spoken to anyone from his years in Gotham except Bizarro, and Roy occasionally.

“So what have you been doing?”

Artemis took his elbow and guided him to the side of the bar. She lowered her voice. “Looking for the same thing as last time.” 

“Why?”

Bizarro had returned to the state in which they had first found him soon after Artemis’ departure. As far as Jason could tell, he couldn’t remember much of being a genius.

“To use it as a weapon. The Bana-Mighdall want red–“

Jason pressed a finger to his lips. “I know where it’s been moved, and I’m scouting the place tonight.”

“So, let’s get out of here.”

“Wouldn’t your girlfriend mind?”

She smiled thinly. “She’s not my girlfriend – officially.”

“Well, I’ve got to hang around and wait for someone.”

Artemis leant forwards and said in his ear, “I’m your contact, genius.”

Jason looked over to Roy, who was watching them with undisguised amusement. He gave Jason two thumbs up before turning to Dick, who was also smirking.

Jason raised his eyebrows. “Let’s get out of here, then.”

Artemis told Nayeli that she was leaving and Jason grabbed the bag containing his uniform. He put it on over his clothes while they made their way through the dark streets to the train station.

“Are we going to Gotham?” asked Artemis.

“Yeah, why?”

“I’m not supposed to be there. It’s how I got away with only two years. Diana said she would persuade the ICC that I wasn’t a terrorist if I promised to never step foot in Gotham again.”

“The fucker has the lot of them in his pocket.”

“Her point was that ‘when vigilantes start fighting each other instead of the criminals, there are too many of you in one place’.”

Jason huffed. “That might be true.”

They reached the platform and waited in the shadow of the bridge for all the passengers to get on. The horn sounded and as the train began to move off, Artemis grabbed Jason’s collar and yanked him onto the top of the last carriage in one bound.

Jason crashed onto his knees and scrabbled for something to hold onto as the train picked up speed. Artemis was on her feet, immovable.

“Not used to that form of transport any more,” he grumbled. “So what’s the deal with the kryptonite now?”

She stared into the rushing shadows of trees and power lines. 

“The Quracis were more determined to get rid of the Bana-Mighdall than ever after they saw Akila with the Bow of Ra. And our queen was less interested in peace than I’d hoped. She thought it would be best to attack first. You can imagine that when the Quracis saw hundreds of Amazons preparing for war, they were scared. They called on Superman.”

“And now the Bana-Mighdall want a defence against Superman? That’s wild.”

“It’s absurd. Yet I would do anything to make my people feel safe.”

There it was – soft Artemis. So, he could still get her to open up to him. But there might have been many more that she had let into her heart since they’d parted ways, like Nayeli.

The train halted at Gotham station and they sprang over the track to the opposite platform to avoid being seen or followed.

“How’s Bizarro?”

“Good. He’s always there for me. Wouldn’t be all that surprised if he shows up tonight.”

Artemis smiled. “We’ll have the band back together.”

“This – that’s not happening.” 

Surprise jolted across her face. 

He hadn’t meant to be so blunt, but a longing had already begun to resurface, along with the memory of being by her side every day and pretending he didn’t want her. He had promised to never do that to himself again.

She was wiser than to ask about the exact location, but it became apparent when the three grey towers of Gotham cathedral loomed ever nearer. A network of gated alleys took them to the back of the cathedral, where they scaled the brick wall, passing the stained-glass, and Artemis ripped off one of the smaller windows on the floor above.

They took the spiral staircase down to the crypt. Jason’s knowledge of where the kryptonite was stored was only second hand and not entirely reliable. He scanned the gargoyles at the entrance and the five religious figures that were carved into the back wall, trying to work out which sculpture was the key.

One of the figures at the back seemed to move beneath the shadows. Jason fired his gun. There was a glint of gold and the bullet rebounded past his ear.

“Diana!” cried Artemis.

Wonder Woman dropped onto the floor. 

“You will go no further. We made a deal, Artemis.”

“I got my part of the deal. I’m done listening to you.” Artemis slid her axe off her back and held it in front of her. “And I would have hoped that Themyscira’s precious princess has better things to do than to follow me around.”

“I’ve been very lenient with you. But you are seeking a weapon that could be used to hurt a good friend of mine.”

“Then tell your friend not to side with oppressors and dictators.”

The kryptonite was with the statue that was not quite human. That ruled out the gargoyles, because they were very not human. Jason squinted at the man on the far right. Were those dragon ears growing out of his curly locks?

“Artemis, you must understand that the effects of red kryptonite are unpredictable. They may not take away Superman’s powers, but make them uncontrollable.”

Jason made a dash past Diana, firing at the statue’s head at the same time. One of her hands threw him back across the floor and the other blocked his bullet. He skidded into a gargoyle’s jagged tail.

Seeing where Jason had aimed, Artemis threw her axe into the statue and it splintered. A large scarlet stone fell out among the bits of rubble, but before Artemis could pick it up, Diana had her whole body bound up in her lasso.

Artemis struggled against it for a second, then stilled and hung her head.

“Tell me, sister: do you really think this will bring the conflict to an end?”

“No.”

Artemis looked up with a strange glint in her eyes. Diana gasped and relaxed her grip on the lasso. 

“You don’t think Superman is a threat to the Bana-Mighdall any more than your friend Bizarro is! It isn’t the red kryptonite that you want.”

“I only need to know that it is secure.”

“You’ve been lying to yourself, Artemis. You’ve been in Gotham many times over the past year, but you didn’t get what you were really after.”

The coils of the lasso fell from Artemis’ body. She caught them and pulled them off over her head. 

“Shut up.”

Diana reeled in the lasso. “Tell Jason why you’re here. The real reason.”

It fell into place. 

Three years ago, she had fled the Batcave with him instead of retrieving the red kryptonite. Before the night that they had shared, just before she was arrested, she had warned that it would not go further. 

Her appearance in Bludhaven, reaching out to Dick to get to him – of course the mission was a farce – the Titans would never have agreed to it. She had no intention of giving the Bana-Mighdall such a powerful weapon.

“By Ra’s will, you’ll not get in my way again.”

Her fury at Diana echoed his at Bruce. They had torn apart their love and with it their one chance of happiness and belonging.

“To me, mistress!” The gigantic axe shot into Artemis’ hand.

“Stop this, now,” said Diana.

Jason pulled himself to his feet. “Artemis! We can–”

Artemis charged at Diana, axe outstretched. 

Only he could stop them. She would stop because she loved him. He dived in front of Diana.

The axe collided with the side of his head. The world went black.

A moment later there was screaming. His head was throbbing, worse than it did in his last run-in with Batman. Artemis was crouched over him, but he could only tell it was her from the red of her hair and face guard because everything else was blurred. A firm hand swept over his hair.

“Don’t do this to me.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “I love you.”

Jason tried to reply that he’d thought she’d see him in time and that he loved her too, but all he could vocalise was a painful gargle.

“I’ll take him to the hospital,” said Diana. “I’ll be faster.”

“No! He can’t be seen there. Take him to Ma Gunn.”

Strong arms slid under his neck and legs, and as his head rolled back he blacked out again.

#

The walls around him were the dirty grey concrete of their old hideout and something like a helmet was clamped on his head. He reached to touch it with a stiff arm. It was a plaster cast.

“RED HIM AM WAKE!”

A few pairs of feet came running at Bizarro’s announcement. Jason lifted his head. Artemis was at the foot of the bed, her eyes red and tired. Alfred and Ma Gunn were at the door. Bizarro was standing near his bed on the other side of the room.

“Didn’t I tell you! Little boys are tougher than they look,” said Ma Gunn approvingly.

Jason just looked at Artemis, but she didn’t move or speak.

“Master Todd will be wanting some nourishment,” said Alfred. “You’re a strong young man, there. Won’t you help me prepare a tray?”

“Me help,” agreed Bizarro, and followed Alfred and Ma Gunn.

Artemis slumped back in the chair next to his bed, legs apart, and his first thought was that she was angry. The he saw the shimmer of a tear in the corner of her eye.

“The only time I’ve seen you cry is over Akila,” he said softly.

“I – I thought I’d killed you. What were you thinking, Jason? Getting between two Amazons in a fight… what a stupid, suicidal move.”

“I know, but I–”

“Couldn’t you see it?” she said angrily. “All this time… the night before I left, all those times I came to find you, everything I did to keep you safe.”

“Believe me, if I’d thought that you loved me as much as I loved you, I would have searched the world for you. I’ve loved you since the first time we met – when you told me I wasn’t bad enough to be a bad guy and I wasn’t good enough to be in the Justice League.”

Artemis shook with quiet laughter and tears began to roll down her cheeks.

“Come here.”

She slid onto the bed, crushing Jason with her hips and thighs, and nestled her head in the space next to his, touching the tip of her nose to his cheek. The arm underneath her was already numbing, but he wrapped his other one around her waist and kissed the part of her mouth that he could reach.


End file.
